Comics for January 27, 2010

[dvandom]

                   Dave's Unspoilt Capsules and Awards
         The Week's Picks and Pans, plus Awards of Dubious Merit

Standard Disclaimers: Please set appropriate followups.  Recommendation does
not factor in price.  Not all books will have arrived in your area this week.
An archive can be found on my homepage, http://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/Rants 
     Okay, this week Wednesday wasn't nearly as bad as last week.

     Items of Note (strongly recommended or otherwise worthy): None

"Other Media" Capsules:

     Things that are comics-related but not necessarily comics (i.e.
comics-based movies like Iron Man or Hulk), or that aren't going to be
available via comic shops (like comic pack-ins with DVDs) will go in this
section when I have any to mention.  They may not be as timely as comic
reviews, especially if I decide to review novels that take me a week or two
(or ten) to get around to.

     None this week.


Time-Shifting:
     Sometimes I get a comic a week or two late because of Diamond's
combination of neglect and incompetence.  If it's more than a week late,
though, I won't review it unless it's very notable.  Additionally, I will
often get tradepaperbacks long after publication or even sometimes before
Diamond ships them, and those will go here.  If I'm reasonably sure I'm
reviewing something that didn't ship this week, this is the section for it.

     None this week.


New Comics:
     Comics and comic collections that I got this week and were actually
supposed to be out this week, as far as I can tell.  These reviews will
generally be spoiler-free, but the occasional bit will slip in.

     Transformers: Last Stand of the Wreckers #1: IDW - Most, perhaps all, of
this issue is told in flashback, ranging from "three years ago"
(contemporaneous with Megatron's big push seen in flashback in All Hail
Megatron) to a month ago, with a couple of scenes that may be present day or
may be eight months ago or anywhere in between...Roche is ambitious with his
asynchonous storytelling, but he's not careful enough with the datestamping,
and the context doesn't make it clear where in the 8 month gap the unstamped
"in transit" scenes happen.  There is, however, a note on the inside front
cover that the entire miniseries takes place before The Transformers #1.  The
story itself makes use of a lot of obscure characters and even drags in one
of the squishies who we haven't seen since the last -Tion miniseries, and it
shows some promise.  I just hope it comes together rather than falling apart.
Recommended.  $3.99

     Justice Society of America #35: DC - Your basic "worst nightmares" sort
of issue, although thematically Willingham mixes it up plenty...some
straightforward fears, some embarrassment, some indignation, etc.  The core
lesson is that thinking about it is often the best bet...those who don't
think about their situations tend to do the worst.  And, in addition to
having a nice strong theme, this has the advantage of not dragging out.
Enough to establish the problems, but it's wrapped up this issue.
Recommended.  $2.99

     Astro City the Dark Age Book Four #1 (of 4): DC/Wildstorm - 1984, and
the Williams Brothers have become their own faction rather than working
within other groups.  It's fairly unsubtly presented that they're turning
into the same sort of person as the man they hunt, the whole "stare too long
into the abyss" thing.  In the background, a Watchmen-like mood is
established, along with things like a Venom pastiche.  Mildly recommended.
$3.99 

     Ms. Marvel #49: Marvel - Considering that this is the penultimate issue,
it feels fairly low-density.  Mind you, in one of the few high-density
nuggets we do get a good portrayal of how a long-lived schemer might view the
world, setting up plots on a whim to see how they might turn out and then
forgetting about them for years.  Oh, and I'm not sure if this is what the
artist intended, but apparently when Mystique towels off after a shower, the
towel is part of her body.  ;)  Recommended.  $2.99

     X-Factor #201: Marvel - Ah, the plot thickens.  Well, one does.  Several
of the subplots get unceremoniously put on hold, possibly because it'll soon
be difficult to do plots set in Latveria without a bazillion Avengers running
around underfoot.  Recommended.  $2.99

     Iron Man: I Am Iron Man! #1 (of 2): Marvel - Hm, I was kinda hoping this
would be a new story set in the movie universe...either a "what other
characters were doing at the time" deal or a bridging piece between the first
and second movies.  But it's pretty much just an adaptation of the first Iron
Man movie, and while Peter David does a decent job hacking things down to fit
into two issues (which would be enough to accurately adapt a 22-30 minute
show), it does rely a lot on the reader know what's supposed to happen.  It's
nice seeing Sean Chen drawing Iron Man again, but it's a fairly shallow
treatment.  Mildly recommended.  $3.99

     Avengers: the Initiative #32: Marvel - Gage continues to use this book
to nibble around the edges of the big events, mostly telling the stories of
Taskmaster, Constrictor and Diamondback while they carry spears in the main
Siege books.  It does have the annoying side effect that no one in this book
seems to be allowed to accomplish anything major, just watching as the big
stuff happens, but that's fairly normal for a "war story diary" kind of tale.
Recommended.  $2.99

     The Amazing Spider-Man #619: Marvel - Slott and Martin continue the
Mysterio sub-arc of the Gauntlet, peeling away most of the layers for the
benefit of the reader (i.e. who is and isn't really dead), but still leaving
a few up in the air.  Or around the onion.  Whatever, mixing metaphors is fun
for the whole family!  Recommended.  $2.99

     Gold Digger Tech Manual #10: Antarctic Press - Saurians, Shangri-La, a
few tail-end Charlies and then an update section on stuff that's shown up
since its proper position in the alphabet (from the Age of Wonders
exploration stories that have been running post-#100).  This includes the
Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors pastiche vehicles.  :)  Recommended.  $3.99

Gone Missing:

     Stuff that came out some places this week and that I wanted to buy, but
couldn't find for whatever reason, so people don't have to email me asking
"Why didn't you review X?"  (If it's neither here nor in the section above,
though, feel free to ask, I might have forgotten about it!) 

     Current list as of 1/27/10: Official Handbook of the Gold Digger
Universe #22, Gold Digger v3 #105.  Add Iron Man vs. Whiplash #3, Marvel
Index #13.


Awards:

"Does She Have The Rest Of Mini-Fire-Convoy Stashed Somewhere?" Award to
     Transformers: Last Stand of the Wreckers #1

"BEESBEESBEES!" Award to Justice Society of America #35

"Gloo Schtick" Award to Astro City Dark Age Book Four #1 (of 4)

"Sucks When Your Arch-Nemesis Doesn't Care Anymore" Award to Ms. Marvel #49

"But Does She Speak NCSoft?" Award to X-Factor #201

"I Can Haz Cheezburger" Award to Iron Man: I Am Iron Man! #1 (of 2)

"Sometimes Crazy Works.  Not THIS Time, Mind You" Award to Avengers: the
     Initiative #32

"The Ultimate 'Made Man'" Award to The Amazing Spider-Man #619

"Terro-Cord" Award to Gold Digger Technical Manual #10

   Dave Van Domelen, "You should know that I'm BULLETPROOF and COMPLETELY unimpressed." - Ms. Marvel to police, Ms. Marvel #49